Doom Patrol
by masterziggy77
Summary: Before joining the Titans, Beast Boy was a member of Doom Patrol. And in this prequel to Teen Titans my other fic , he has to help the Doom Patrol stop The Brain from destroying the world. Rated T for Intense Sequences of Action Violence.
1. Chapter 1: The Monkey Bite

PROLOGUE

A cage door is unlocked. A young boy stares into the bright sunlight that fills the room. "C'mon son. We're here to help you."

The boy was blinded by the sunlight enough that he couldn't see the mysterious figure talking to him. "Who are you?" he asks, his voice not yet going through the affects of puberty.

"I'm a friend," said the figure again. "I came to rescue you. Well, assuming you accept the generous offer I have."

"What offer?"

"I'll tell you, after you tell the story of how you got in the state you're in right now. But make it brief, time is critical."

The man listened as the boy began his story.

**DOOM PATROL**

CHAPTER ONE:

THE MONKEY BITE

Garfield is now ten years old. His parents had stayed in Africa, still trying to accomplish their goal: studying a legendary green monkey, that had been proven to be alive. The only problem was that the monkey was hard to catch. At least until Garfield decided to go outside to play one day.

He was playing with his Tonka toys, digging up the soft, African soil, dumping it in his dump truck, and hauling it off to another spot. After a half hour of this, he decided he wanted to use his crane. But he needed stuff to pick up.

He started looking around, and finally looked up into a banana tree. At the top, a nice, ripe bundle of bananas, as yellow lines on a highway.

He walked over and started climbing the tree. He made it to the top, where the tree started to wobble a little, and kicked at the bananas. It took him three tries, but he finally kicked down the hole bundle. But a strange green monkey jumped off of it, and into the tree. And then it attacked Garfield!

It lodged its teeth into Garfield's arm, making him loose his grip on the tree and fell to the ground, screaming in pain along the way. His parents heard the cry for help, and ran out there, his dad holding the shotgun he used when he was out exploring, just incase a wart hog or a lion decided he'd make a good lunch.

They saw the monkey biting Garfield, and his mother ran over there, grabbed the monkey, and threw it into a burlap sack she was carrying.

The dad picked up Garfield, who was crying his eyes out, and they ran back to the house. They diagnosed the wound, and found a nasty saliva seeping into Garfield's blood.

"Holy crap," said his dad. "We'll have to take a blood sample and send it to the States. Immediately.

His mom used a small dropper, sucked up some blood, and put it in a vile. The next day, they shipped it off for a hospital in New York City. And one week later, they got the medicine back.

They needed to give it to him through a shot. But when they did, the strangest thing happened. He started turning green!

"James," said his mom, "what's happening to him!?"

James turned the box around and read off the side affects. "'May include: itchy or runny nose, unknown rashes, diarrhea, stomach ache, skin turning green, fever, bladder control issues, and women giving birth to pigs. If any of these or other side affects occur, seek medical attention immediately.'"

"Oh my god," said his mom.

"I know, our son's going to look like a frog for the rest of his life," said James.

"Not that, but women can give birth to pigs?"

James looked back at the package with a confused look.

"Oh god, what are we going to do?"

"C'mon, we'll boat over to Madagascar, find a close city, and take a plane to the States."

They all ran to the boat, James carrying his son, got in, started the engine, and darted off toward Madagascar.

Garfield slept most of the way. He was in the middle of a dream when they were half way to the island.

He was walking through the jungle, looking for his parents. No matter how hard he screamed, he couldn't get their attention. "MOM! DAD!" Over and over he would cry for them. He needed them more than ever. For he was being chased by an ape. A very large ape. And all of a sudden, he could no longer scream. The ape got closer, and the muscles in his throat got stiffer, keeping him from crying out for help as the ape's teeth clamped shut on his face!

All of a sudden, Garfield woke up, thanks to the sounds of a storm that picked up in the pitch black darkness of the night. He started crawling toward the back of the boat as hi mom tried to calm him down. But an odd animal instinct was taking over his brain, telling him that his parents were danger, to get away.

He struggled so much that he accidentally kicked the boat engine sideways, making the boat skid sideways, into a giant rock! He fell overboard. He struggled to the surface, being immediately covered by water as waves flew overtop of him. And then, instinct took over, telling him to swim.

He kicked and pumped with his arms, not worrying about his oxygen level, which seemed to stay constant. Kicking and pumping for three hours, without the need to go up for a breath, paid off. For he passed out on the beaches of Madagascar.


	2. Chapter 2: Job Offers

CHAPTER TWO:

JOB OFFERS

Garfield woke up dazed. All he could remember about last night was that he had been thrown from the boat he was on with his parents. Even more concerning, where were his parents!? He jumped up, and started running toward town.

When he got to the road, he heard the siren of a police car. Looking down the road, he saw the police pickup, pulling a boat behind it.

Garfield waved his hands to stop the police car. "Help me, I can't find my parents!" he told the officer when he pulled over.

"C'mon, son, we'll take you to the station after we launch the boat. There was a boating accident off the coast." The officer looked up and saw Garfield's green skin, and his jaw dropped to the floor.

"I was in a boat accident! We hit something and I was thrown out, and somehow I ended up here."

"Steve," the officer called on his CB, "take this kid to the station, question him, get him some food, and put whatever he says in the computer."

A police car pulled up behind the truck, and Steve got out, took Garfield, and put him in the car. They drove to the station, where the officer gave Garfield some pizza, donuts, and a Mountain Dew. Then they went into an office, where Steve started to question the boy.

"So, bud, what's your name? And why were you coming over here?" started Steve, trying not to look at his green skin.

"Something about medicine. I don't remember exactly. And my name's Garfield Logan."

"What's up with your skin?"

"Um… I was bitten by a monkey. The serum to counteract whatever it started giving me turned my skin green and caused some woman to give birth to a pig."

"Ok… Wait, a pig?"

Garfield nodded.

"Wow. Ok so what happened with the boat?"

"We hit something. What it was I don't know."

"How did you get here?"

"Swam, somehow. Don't remember."

Steve entered the rest of this into the computer. "Ok, that should be all," he said. "We'll get you some more food if you're still hungry."

* * *

An hour later, the officers returned, with sad looks on their faces. "What did you discover?"

"The couple didn't make it," said an officer. "They were crushed when the boat hit the rock."

"NO!" screamed Garfield as he burst out the door.

"Garfield, come back!" yelled Steve.

But he didn't listen. He just kept on running. Tears raining from his eyes. He finally stopped at a park, sat down behind a tree, and cried 'til he fell asleep.

A few hours later, he woke up. It was dark out, and gangs were starting to roam the streets. He stood up, and started to walk back toward the police station, tears still coming from his eyes. But he was confronted with a gang when he entered the basketball quart. He looked over and saw them kicking and abusing a helpless pit bull. The dog yelped over and over. But he wouldn't attack and defend himself.

"Hey!" yelled Garfield. "Leave him alone, he didn't do anything!"

"You gotta problem, punk?" said one of the gangsters as the group walked toward Garfield.

"Yeah I do," said Garfield, starting to back up. He swallowed as the gangster towered over him, and tried to hide his fear.

"Look, the little shit is scared," said another gangster.

"Look at these marks," said the leader, the first gangster, as he traced the tear marks on Garfield's cheeks. "Let's cut these scars off." He pulled out his knife, and Garfield tried to run back, but the other gangsters caught him and pinned him to the ground.

The leader made his first scar-erasing mark, causing blood to seep from the wound. They all laughed morbidly.

But another weird instinct took over. Garfield started thinking of the dog, how it had the instinct and muscle to defend itself. And then something weird happened. He started to morph into a pit bull! Starting at his legs, and slowly creeping up his body.

He didn't know what was going on, and the gangsters didn't notice (obviously since they didn't even notice his green skin), but he decided to use this to escape. So when he was fully morphed, he growled deep, and then rolled over and jumped at the leader. He bit the guy's wrist, making him drop the knife, then he was thrown over by the gangster, where he thought of a Great Dane, a dog large enough he couldn't lift.

And he morphed into one! He lunged back at the gangster, pinned him to the ground, jumped onto another gangster, then jumped at another, bit his wrist and dragged him to the ground, and then he jumped, and pushed the last gangster over with his paws.

"Why, you little son-of-a…" the leader was cut off by Steve who grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Hey, kid, you're going…" Steve was cut off by a fist to the face.

The gangster swung again, had his fist caught by Steve, who returned a punch to the gangster's face. Another gangster tried to punch, but Steve caught his fist, kneed him in the stomach, and threw him to the ground. Then another came, took a full swing from Steve that immediately sent him to the ground, and then the last one pulled out a gun! But Steve was quicker, pulling his gun out and shooting the gangster in the arm he held the gun in.

The gangster rolled on the ground, cursing, as two more police cars pulled up, cuffed the four gang members, and put them into cars for a ride to the station.

Then Steve helped Garfield up, him back in his human form, and took him to the station.

* * *

"You morphed into a dog!" yelled Steve surprisedly after hearing Garfield's story.

"I don't know how, but I did," said Garfield.

Steve sat back down, trying to conceive the fact that he was staring at a shape-shifting boy, after finally getting used to the fact that his skin was green. "Alright, you're going to be staying with me until we can find some family of yours. That OK with you?"

"Yeah. Where do you live?"

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at Steve's apartment. It was small, about 40 square feet in surface area. When you went through the door, the kitchen (just a stove, mini-fridge and sink) sat to the right, to the left was a door for the bathroom, and ahead was the living/bed room with a pullout-bed couch and a TV.

"Nice place," said Garfield.

"Thanks," said Steve, hanging up his keys. "What's mine is yours. You can take any food you want if you get hungry, and I'll set up a cot for me to sleep on so you can have the pullout bed."

"Oh, thanks, Steve, but I'll sleep on the cot. I don't wanna kick you out of your bed."

"You sure? 'Cause I don't care either way."

"I'll take the cot."

"Thanks, kid."

They ate some Mac 'n' Cheese for dinner, then watched a movie and went to bed.

The next day, Garfield went with Steve to the station. He had to protect the boy because word got out about the "shape-shifting kid that whooped the Lords of Hell's asses."

* * *

And word had gotten out to the worst person information could get to.

"The boy's at the police station," said a man, dressed in a lab coat, black t-shirt and jeans. "Keep your weapons in front of you at all times. Never put them down or the officers will kill you, and I'm not responsible for those deaths. Nor will I take responsibility for those who die while playing by the rules. Understood?"

"YES, SIR!" said all five hench-men at once.

"Move out," ordered the scientist.

* * *

Garfield just sat at the station, watching cartoons, and taking a donut every now and then. It looked like his day would be really boring, at least until the glass of the front door was shot out.

Almost immediately, all of the police officers jumped up, pulled out their guns, and started shooting. They took out the first gunman, but another one stepped in, fired his machine gun, taking down three officers.

Steve ran and took Garfield from the lounge, and they both ran into his office, dodging bullets on the way. The gunman started walking toward them, but took a surprise shot to the chest from a down officer. A third gunman walked into the office, shot the down officer in the head with a pistol, then walked toward the back, followed by three more men.

Steve heard them coming, grabbed his handgun, reached out the door and took three shots. The gunman shot a few rounds back, then took a bullet to the leg when Steve reached out and shot four more times.

The last two gunmen went trigger-happy, running down the hall, shooting towards Steve's office door in order to keep him down so they could catch the boy. But Steve took a chance. He looked up from his desk, shot at the gunmen, but they just shot him down and grabbed Garfield in less than three seconds. Then they bolted out the door, shoved him into the back seat of a police car (so the cage would keep him out of their hair with their other guys dead), and zoomed off for their hideout.

Garfield just sat in the back, starting to cry again, afraid that all hope was gone. Steve was dead, so who'd go after the strange green-skinned kid?

But back in the office, Steve stood up, the three bullets floating in front of his hands! "Damn, I need to work on that move," he said to himself.

He got up, took his keys, and went to a gun locker at the back of the station. They had a whole six-by-six closet of AK-47s, M-16s, and over 1,000 extra magazines for each of them.

He grabbed an M-16, three handguns, seven magazines for each gun, and then went to a police car, and drove to his house, where he could track Garfield, who had a chip in his arm, designed for tracking him down if he got lost in the jungle.

* * *

And this is where we return to where we were at the very beginning of the story. "Interesting story, young man," said the scientist.

"So what's this 'generous offer?'" asked Garfield.

"Well," started the scientist, "I run an organization. It, unfortunately, involves some violence, killing and other mayhem. I need strong creatures to protect myself. I already have one standing guard by the front door. He's a gorilla, and I enhanced his IQ to 178, a genius level, but not quite as high as mine. I named him Monsieur Mallah, and if you need anything, just call for him. But anyway, you're probably wondering what I mean by violence in my business. Am I right?"

Garfield nodded.

"There's another scientist I compete with. He's always trying to steal my experiments, ruin them, you name it. Usually he comes in, guns going off like fireworks on the Fourth of July, and I have to end it the bloody way."

"What are your experiments for?"

"That's for me to know, you to not worry about. Now I'll tell you what, I'll give you a couple days to think about this. In the mean time, you are a guest in my lab. What's mine is yours. Call Mallah if you need anything, and he'll give it to you."

* * *

Outside the lab, Steve was waiting. Crouching down behind what looked like a prison wall. It was made of red brick, stood ten feet tall, and was topped with electric razor wire.

Standing in front of the building was the weirdest site Steve had ever seen: a gorilla holding an AK-47! Steve had an idea to distract him. He was an animal, so a few gunshots around his feet should scare him off.

So he took the M-16, aimed it at the gorilla's feet, then held his hand up behind the back, using his telekinetic energy to hold it, hid behind the wall, and then pulled the trigger with the same energy.

It rained bullets around the gorilla's feet, and, as Steve planned, he ran scared around the side of the building. Steve used his telekinesis to push the gates off of their hinges, then walked onto the front lot of the lab.

Back around the side of the building, the gorilla pulled out a two-way radio. "Boss," he said into the radio, "there's a strange man here, dressed as a police officer and heavily armed."

"Take him out, Mallah," said the scientist. "He's just a stupid lab rat trying to sabotage me."

But Garfield smiled, knowing exactly who was there, and happy that he wasn't dead.

Mallah went back around, aimed his gun at Steve and fired, making Steve dart into the building.

When he entered, a gunman came out, firing a handgun at him, causing him to duck behind a wall. He pulled out his handgun, reached around, shot the other gunman, and ran down the hall. A sensor picked up his movement and sensed that he was an intruder, and then several guns lowered from the ceiling, and shot. But Steve quickly used his telekinetic powers, and shielded himself from the bullets before he shoved his invisible shield at the guns, knocking them out of the ceiling.

"Boss, he's still coming," said Mallah over the radio. "I missed him, another gunman missed him, and he destroyed ceiling guns."

"Blow his brains out now!" yelled the scientist.

Steve kept running, and got caught by three more gunmen with AK-47s, who opened fire, making Steve run down another hallway. He stopped, grabbed both of his handguns, then jumped back in front of the others and shot all three of them with six shots.

One of the men had a small gun on his belt, used to shoot a small detonator. Steve grabbed the gun, and shot a wall, blowing out a hole big enough for him to walk through.

The hole led to a stairwell. Steve started running up the steps as another gunman ran out and started shooting with an M-16, only hitting the steel steps behind Steve's feet. Steve raised his pistol, ready to shoot as he ran, but Mallah jumped through the hole, and started firing at him, while he was seven storied up.

Mallah hit the steps directly below Steve's feet as Steve ran up the stairs. But Steve finally found concrete platform right next to a door, so he opened the door and ran down the hallway it led to. Up ahead, he saw four gunmen, running toward him, who raised their guns and fired. So Steve used his powers to make a V around him, sending all the bullets into the wall as he ran.

When he made it to the first two gunmen, he smacked both of them down with his invisible shield, then punched the last guy on the left in the face, and then spun around and elbowed the last guy in the forehead.

As he walked down the hall farther, he found a man with a young boy walking next to him. Garfield.

"Let him go!" he yelled at the man, raising his third handgun.

"NO!" yelled the man. He pulled out his own handgun and attempted to fire, but he was knocked off his aim when Garfield shoved him through a door!

The man fell into a large room, decorated with controls, computers, levers, etcetera, grabbing Garfield's shirt on the way down.

Steve ran in front of the doorway, got shot at by the scientist, and hid behind a wall.

"Stay there!" yelled the scientist as he pointed the gun at Garfield's head. "If you show up in this room, I shoot the boy!"

"Now I know you're not gonna do that," said Steve.

"How?"

In a split second, Steve jumped around the wall, and picked the scientist up with his telekinesis. "I don't know, you tell me," he said with a sarcastic smile. "Garfield, run." Garfield did as he was ordered as Steve threw the scientist at the wall at the back of the room, where he fell onto a button, that triggered flashing red lights, and a programmed female voice that said, "Self-destruct in 60 seconds."

"You sons-of-bitches always put those damn things in here," said Steve.

He then took off running right behind Garfield, who knew a shortcut out of the building, thanks to the idiots who didn't blindfold him when they carried him in.

They ran out the front door, across the front lot, and just as they ran through the gate, a giant arm flew forward, knocked Steve down, and a hand snatched Garfield off the ground.

Steve rolled forward a short distance, and then jumped up, and faced Monsieur Mallah, who had Garfield held in one hand, with only his bare feet and head visible.

Steve grabbed his handgun, aimed it at the gorilla and fired, but he just moved his head a little and the bullet flew past. Then Mallah grabbed his own pistol, and held it on Garfield's head. "Make a move, he gets it," he said.

But Garfield had enough. He wanted lose so he thought. Thought back to the fight with the gangsters, where he turned into a dog. Could he do it again? And if he could, could he do it with another animal?

He concentrated hard, focusing on what Mallah looked like. Steve's eyes grew wide as he watched Garfield's foot. His big toe moved down the side of his foot, grew three inches out, and then the rest of his foot started to take the form of a hand! The same thing happened to the other foot, then his entire body grew larger, turned hairy, and his face started transforming into the face of a gorilla!

Mallah held the gun at this side, stunned at the site, and finally lost his grip on Garfield as he transformed into a full gorilla, exactly the same size and look as him, except Garfield was still green. He finally snapped back into reality, glared at Garfield, glared back, and they both let out challenging roars!

Mallah stood up tall on his legs, roared louder, and beat his chest like Tarzan. Then he lunged at Garfield, punching him with both fists. He finally knocked him to the ground, then Garfield rolled over, stood up, gripped Mallah around the throat, and slammed him into the brick wall. Then Mallah gripped him around the throat with both hands, swung him around into the wall, then held him there while he punched him.

Garfield, still holding Mallah's throat, jumped into the air and kicked his opponent in the stomach, knocking him to the ground and making him let go of his throat. Then to end the fight, Garfield grabbed the skin in front of Mallah's chest and abs, and threw him onto the electric razor wire. There was a large spark, and Mallah was thrown to the other side of the fence, unconscious.

Garfield then morphed into a cheetah, still green. "Get on my back and hold on tight," he told Steve, who was still stunned at the boy's developing ability.

Steve did as ordered, and Garfield started running, reaching the cheetah's top speed of 60 miles per hour. And as he ran, the entire lab exploded into a large fireball, reaching 2,000 feet in height, and stretching the length of the fence in all directions.

"Wow," said Steve. "God have mercy on that scientist."

Garfield let Steve off of his back, then he morphed back to his regular form, and turned to see Steve, back facing him as he took off his jacket. "Cover up in this 'til we get back," he ordered.

"Oh, guess clothes don't morph with me," said Garfield, embarrassed.


	3. Chapter 3: Others Like Garfield

CHAPTER THREE:

OTHERS LIKE GARFIELD

"So where are we gonna go?" asked Garfield.

"A boat dock to meet a friend," said Steve. "He'll take us to Durban, South Africa, and we're gonna take a plane to the US."

"What about your job?"

"I'll already have my ass fired for taking the guns, and doesn't matter. Larry's probably gonna come with us anyway."

"What'll we do in the States?"

"I have a few friends I met over the internet. I set up a blog when I got my powers, and I met Rita Farr and Larry Trainor. They both have strange powers too."

"Like what?"

"Rita can grow or shrink at will."

"What about Larry?"

"Wait and let him explain it. Oh, and don't comment on his appearance. And if anyone asks, he has a horrible case of eczema."

"Why?"

* * *

They arrived at the dock, and went into the office. Steve called for Larry, and when he stepped out, Garfield was stunned. Larry was about six feet tall, wrapped like a mummy from head to toe, but wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans over them.

"Ah, Steve," he said when he walked out. "What brings you here?"

"Him," said Steve, pointing at Garfield.

"What… I mean who's that?" stuttered Larry.

"Who you calling a 'what' mummy man?"

Steve bopped Garfield on the back of the head. "Be nice," he ordered.

"It's ok, Steve, I shouldn't've called him a 'what,'" said Larry.

"Back to business," said Steve. "We need to go to the States to find Rita."

"Hot damn, finally going to meet her," said Larry excitedly.

"Yes, and we need to hurry. I have some weapons so we can't go on a commercial flight."

"Don't worry," said Larry. "I know a guy with a plane that can fly around the world in 80 minutes."

A few minutes later, Larry was on the phone.

"Hello, Cliff?" he asked. "Hey, Larry Trainor here… Oh, good, that's what I called about… My friend needs a lift to the States… Great, thanks… Will do… Ok, later." He turned to Steve and Garfield. "He'll take us."

After a five hour trip in the boat, they made it to Durban. Cliff met them at the dock with his pickup and boat trailer, helped Larry load the boat, then drove them all to his place.

"If you don't mind my asking," said Garfield, trying to break the silence in the vehicle, "how did you end up looking like King Tut?"

"I was testing out Cliff's latest plane model," he began. "He wanted me to see how high it'd fly, so I started flying up. And up, and up, and up, until the plane finally started to fall apart."

"Fall apart!?" asked Garfield.

"I flew to high, and it wouldn't stay together. I ended up getting ejected from it, and it was the weirdest thing ever. I felt atmospheric gassed pelting my body like hail. And just before I hit the ground, I started flying.

"But all of my body parts were black when I looked. But when I saw my body falling, I flew over, picked it up, and set it gently on the ground."

"So wait, you left your body?"

"Yeah, I was just getting there. But anyway, after 50 seconds of being separated, I had to return to my body, 'cause I started getting weak."

"Can you still leave your body?"

"Yes, but only for 60 seconds at a time. And my body is dangerously radioactive, so I have to wear these bandages for the rest of my life."

"Wow."

"So how'd you become green?"

"I was bit by a monkey, and his saliva was poisonous. So my parents ordered some medicine, which turned my skin green."

"Do you know how long it'll last?"

"No."

"Ok, we're here," said Cliff.

Garfield looked out the window, and saw a plane yard. There was a new garage, surrounded by bright green sod, and a bright silver concrete sidewalk in the front that ran through the middle of the grass.

They got out of the truck, went into the garage, and entered the plane. "All right, I'm Cliff, and I'll be your stewardess. First, if you don't know how to buckle your seat belt, you deserve to die," he said sarcastically. "Second, incase of emergency, run like hell, parachutes are in the back, and first one to the ground wins. Clear?"

"Yeah," said Garfield. "I don't know how to buckle the seatbelt, so I guess I deserve to die."

Cliff laughed, but stopped when he realized Garfield was serious. "Hey, bud, it was a joke. Here…" He walked over and buckled Garfield's seat belt, then climbed into the cockpit. "Time to rock. Everyone secure?"

"Yes," said everyone at once.

"Alright." Cliff started the plane, and drove it onto the runway. Then he started driving, faster and faster, 'til he got to the end, pulled back on the wheel, and rose into the air.

Garfield looked at the earth once they were high up. All of the fields and lots of land looked like a green, yellow, and brown patchwork quilt. He was more amazed than ever.

* * *

Mallah finally woke up to see the place still in flames. He looked around, and the entire facility had burned completely down, and was still smoldering. And he swore he heard a faint cry for help. He looked around, but saw nobody.

"Help!" it came again, softly.

_What the hell is that?_ He wondered.

He heard it again, and figured it must be from the pile. He carefully walked across it, scrutinizing the ruble before he stepped.

He made it to the center, and noticed a black silhouette of a body. Looking closer, he saw that the figure was gushing like a heart, and that the top looked like a skull with the eves have burnt. And the closer he got, the more familiar it looked. Everything from the waist down was burnt almost completely off. The bladder was still intact, but completely visible through a few scraps of dead burnt skin. The legs were nothing but half-burnt bone, and a few tendons remained, but held on just barely. The heart was visible, and still pumping! So the person was alive!

"Mallah," it whispered. Then it slowly instructed, "Get the switchboard. Save my brain."

Mallah recognized it as the scientist! He frantically dug through the rubble and found a steel trap door. He pulled it up, and entered, exiting a few minutes later with the intercom's switchboard.

Then he dug for a magnifying glass, and a tweezers that fit his hands. And then he pulled the burnt head onto his lap and started operating.

After a few hours, he had almost every wire hooked up to a vital nerve on the brain. Then he carefully cut the top of the skull the rest of the way off (he had opened it a little for the operation), but he stopped immediately. He needed a body and power source.

He dug through more ruble, and found a tin garbage can that was still in good condition, just black from the fire. Then he ran over to the road and found a parked car, ripped off its hood, and stole the battery and the battery cables.

He put the battery in the can, attached the cables, then delicately hooked the cables to the switchboard. But he needed blood. The brain would die in four minutes without it.

He searched for small pipes that would pump enough blood for the brain to survive 'til he could create a real home for it. Then he carefully attached those. Then he stuck the pipes into the bag, and let the heart pump blood into the brain while he cut vessels, and replaced them with pipes.

Then Mallah cut the brain loose from the spinal cord, and the body died. But the brain was still living. But in one hour, it'd die from being exposed to the air, so Mallah had to work quickly to assemble a permanent home.

* * *

The final wire. Mallah had everything ready just in time, and had attached the last wire. The brain was in its permanent body. It was the shape of a garbage can, standing three feet tall, and had a diameter of one foot. On the bottom it had wheels, which the brain could control at will, and the top it had a glass dome, where the brain and its wires were completely visible. And on the front, was a skull that Mallah cut out, since it was the logo for the scientists company. And in the teeth of the skull was a speaker. Designed so the brain could speak.

"Boss, are you there?" said Mallah.

"Y… Yes, Monsieur Mallah," it said in a monotone, robotic voice.

It worked! "Oh, thank God," said Mallah. "Do you remember anything?"

"My lab was destroyed, my body was burnt, and you saved my by putting my brain in this body. So to speak."

"Do you remember your name?"

"I have a new name. I will from now on be known ass The Brain."

"Yes, sir. Anything we need to do now that you're back?"

"I need to find a new lab. This explosion changed nothing, so we will continue to finish what we started."

"What about that man that took the green boy?"

"That is no concern of ours. He is probably long gone by now."

* * *

Cliff needed to land outside New York City to avoid legal papers and other bothersome obstacles, so Steve, Garfield, and Larry volunteered to skydive to the city, find Rita, and meet up with him at the farm where he'd land.

They landed in central park, and stashed the parachutes in a tree.

"Thank God you have those powers or we'd never get those hidden very good," said Garfield.

"We still have Larry," said Steve. "He could've done the job too."

"So where are we going?" asked Larry.

"She lives in an apartment on the south side of the city," answered Steve.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" shouted Garfield. "Can I fly us there?"

"No, we'll take a cab," said Steve.

"Damn."

"Watch your mouth, Garfield," said Steve.

Larry stopped a cab, easily thanks to his odd appearance, and they all got in.

"Southerner's Apartments, please," said Steve.

"Ok," said the cab driver.

They made it to the apartment complex, the bill came up to $132.54, Steve paid, and the cab drove off.

"Where's the damn Cash Cab when you need it.

"Watch your mouth, Steve," said Garfield.

Steve frowned like he was saying, "crap, he's right," as he pushed the button to Rita's room.

"Who is it?" said a voice, overpowered by static.

Steve pushed the reply button, and answered, "It's Steve Dayton, and Larry Trainor. The guys off the blog."

"I'll be right down," said Rita.

She walked to her bedroom nightstand, pulled a gun out of the drawer, loaded and cocked it, then went down to the front door.

"Do you guys have any ID?" she asked.

Steve pulled out his wallet and showed her his drivers license. Then Rita looked at Larry, and decided it was proof enough they were telling the truth.

"Ok, come in," she said.

"She's hot," Larry whispered to Steve. "Looks like Sandra Bullock."

They all four went to Rita's apartment, where she put the gun on the kitchen table.

"What's that for?" asked Garfield.

"Gangs live around here," she answered. "Can't be too careful. Wait, who are you?"

"Garfield Logan. I'm with Steve."

"You have a kid?" she asked Steve.

"No, he's an orphan," he answered. "Long story."

"Oh, adopted son?"

"Nope, no son. Hell, I'm actually single."

"Oh shit. No relationship talk," she said. "I'm still getting over the jackass that left me cause of my powers."

"I'm sorry," said Garfield.

"Thanks bud," she said, actually looking at him. "Whoa, why's your skin green?"

"Same reason his parents are dead," Steve whispered in her ear.

"Oh," she whispered back. "You hungry?" she asked Garfield.

"Oh, yes I am."

"What would you like? Name anything."

"Pizza?"

Rita ordered five pizzas. Four pepperoni, and one cheese for Garfield. While they ate, Steve explained Garfield's situation to Rita, after Garfield said it was ok.

"I'm sorry, buddy," she said, giving him a hug. Steve looked at him with jealousy in his eyes. "Hey, I think Steve wants a hug,"

Rita stared at Steve, who immediately changed the subject. "Why don't you like meat kid?" he asked with a mouthful of pizza.

"Doesn't agree with my stomach, or my tongue," said Garfield.

"So what about that lab you said exploded?" asked Larry.

"What about it?" said Steve. "No survivors, so problem."

But he was wrong. Dead wrong.


	4. Chapter 4: The Next Year

**Author's note: "Walker, Texas Ranger" (mentioned below) isn't really a movie, I made it up based on a fic I plan to write in the future, based on the TV show.**

CHAPTER FOUR:

THE NEXT YEAR

The next Monday, Steve asked out Rita. They went to a watch Walker, Texas Ranger, then ate out at Village Inn.

Larry Trainor remained at the house, working an online business (nobody would hire him unless he lost the "mummy suit").

Cliff returned to the group the next day, and got a job at the air field he landed at. He made plenty of money, and six months later, sold his plane and opened up an electronics repair shop.

And one full year later, Steve Dayton and Rita Farr said the two words everyone dreams of saying: "I do."

But everyone's most cherished event of that year, when they celebrated the new addition to Steve and Rita's family: Garfield Mark Dayton.

"Yes," Cliff said into his company phone as Steve walked in, "I can do that… Sure… I'll deliver it tomorrow, myself… Nice doing business with you too."

"Who was that?" asked Steve.

"A guy offered a half-million for me to make a certain robot. But wouldn't say what it was for."

"Wow! Wait 'til I tell Rita you're buying our new house!"

"Who said that?" yelled Cliff in a deeper, angrier voice as he leaped out of his chair..

"I'm just messing, buddy. It's your money, do what you want with it. Spend wisely."

Cliff chucked as he sat back down. "Sorry, man. I'm just excited. And I actually wouldn't mind getting a house for all of us to share."

"If you did, we'd love you forever."

"Thanks. I better get to work on that baby. He wants it tomorrow."

"Where is he?"

"Death Valley. I'm flying a borrowed plane tonight."

"Would it hurt if Larry, Rita, Garfield, and I tagged along?"

"Hey, the more the merrier."

"Thanks. See you tonight," said Steve as he walked out.

"Did you here, boss? Your new body will arrive tomorrow."

"Excellent. Then we can proceed in our plans," said a monotone robotic voice.

"Everyone ready?" called Cliff. "The plane leaves whenever I get on it."

"We're coming, we're coming," said Rita as she carried some bags out of the elevator.

Steve loaded the bags into the truck while Rita and Garfield got comfortable in the front. "Ok, everything here?" he asked when he got into the driver's seat."

"Let's go, dad!" said Garfield.

Steve drove off, stunned. That was the first time Garfield called him "dad" since the adoption was final. It felt good, like he was now in charge of the most important duty of his life. He knew now, he was a father, Garfield was his son, Rita was his wife, and he was in charge of taking care of them both. They were a family.

After throwing everything in the plane, Cliff jumped in, got into the cockpit, and started the engine while everyone else got in and got comfortable for the ride. Garfield watched the ground as they flew, his favorite part of flying.

The next day, they flew over Arizona. Garfield stared in awe at the brown-orange mountains. They were devoid of plant life, but that didn't take away the beauty of their unique shapes. They weren't shaped like anything that could be named, but they looked like they were hand carved, like a potter's pot.

"How do you like the mountains, Garfield?" asked Cliff.

"The prettiest sight I've ever seen in a desert," he answered.

"Ok, everyone stay quiet for a minute, I gotta call and let the customer know I'm almost there."

"Hey, boss!" yelled Mallah.

"What is it?" said the little robot.

"Listen to this." The massive gorilla pushed a button on a keyboard, and it started playing a conversation:

"Base 97, this is Cliff Steele, requesting permission to land."

"Do you have the order?"

"Yes."

"We need photographic evidence before we can grant permission. If you have a mobile phone on the plane, we can get the photo off of it."

"Hey, Steve, do you have your phone?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Send Garfield to take a picture of that robot."

Mallah cut off the recording. "I checked that Steve guy's voice. He's Steve Dayton. The one that exploded the lab."

The robot sat for a moment. It didn't make any motions, but it was thinking. "I know how to get rid of Dayton, and in doing so, we'll test if that robotic body is as strong as it was made to be. Send two of our new jets after that plane."

"Yes sir, boss," said Mallah.

"So how long 'til we land?" asked Larry.

"About an hour," answered Cliff.

"Why'd you call in then?" asked Rita.

"Usually you have to call in that early to reserve a place to land anywhere. Some places require longer."

"Hey, Cliff, is there an Air Force base out here?" asked Garfield.

"No; if there was we wouldn't be allowed to fly here. Why?

"There's two fighter jets coming at us."

Cliff turned his head instantly. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, coming from the north."

"He's not lying, Cliff," said Steve.

"It's… It's probably nothing." But everyone could see it in Cliff's eyes: he was scared as hell.

The jets caught up with the plane, and veered right, tailing them. Cliff was even more scared when they did this, and then started to feel nauseous when his computer started to beep, signaling that they were being locked onto!

"OH SHIT!" yelled Cliff. Everyone looked at the jet as Cliff turned, and saw a spark come from the jet's left wing. A missile! "Everyone get buckled, I'm gonna try to lose it!"

"How will you lose that! This thing goes less than half the speed of that jet!" yelled Steve.

Cliff jerked the plane through a rock arch, around a mountain, then he started flying straight across the open desert, out of options for tricking the missile.

Larry watched the radar scanner as the missile came closer and closer, then he did something amazing! A black object ejected from his body, and flew through the wall and out of the plane! Then it went into the missile, and a few seconds later, the object came back out, and the missile exploded!

Then the thing flew back into the plane, collapsed on the floor, and crawled to Larry's body. And after barely touching the arm, it was absorbed into the body like water into a paper towel.

"How'd you do that!" asked Garfield.

That's actually my body," said Larry. "I can leave my human body for 60 seconds at a time, and while I'm out I can fly fast, cause objects to explode, and pass through solid objects."

"Awesome!" said Garfield.

The plane suddenly jerked down. "The other jet's on its way!" yelled Cliff.

As the plane flew toward the ground, the jet started to fire its guns! Garfield watched as the bullets sent dust flying when they hit the ground. Cliff suddenly jerked the plane up to through off the jet's aim, but it too just flew back at them and started firing again.

Even though the plane was small and slow, it turned fast circles, and threw off the jet's aim. Cliff turned circles 'til the jet started to catch up to him, then he flew a loop over the jet's roof, and started flying the other direction, 'til the other jet started coming at them. He flew down just as the other jet started flying at them also, and then turned 90 degrees to the left, and flew straight.

The two jets flew side by side, shooting their guns at the tiny plane. Cliff flew up and down, and in circles, all at the same time, which successfully threw off the aim of the jets. Then when a giant mountain appeared to his left, he flew around it, and the jets followed, but required a wider turn.

But instead of flying behind the jet, they started to fly away, and started to lock onto them for another missile launch! One jet launched a missile, that started to gain on the small plane within seconds.

"Turn and come back in 40 seconds," Larry ordered Cliff. "I can only leave my body for 60 seconds."

"Got it," said Cliff.

Larry left his body, flew as fast as he could into the missile, and in less than a second, it exploded, and he flew out. But instead of flying back to the plane, he flew toward the jet! The jet started to shoot his guns at the black shape, but only succeeded in pelting the mountain. Larry flew through the cockpit of the jet, and into the afterburner, and after exiting, the entire jet exploded!

Cliff flew the plane overhead, and then straight down toward where Larry was. Then with only five seconds left, he flew into the plane, and into his body.

"Holy crap," he said. "Stay away from the other jet as long as possible. I need to rest if I wanna get him."

Cliff flew west again, and the second jet started to follow! "Larry, you better rest quickly!" yelled Garfield. "He's back!"

The jet started shooting, and Cliff started turning circles. But the jet's pilot was smart this time, and started turning the jet in circles too! They were both flying perfectly in line, and the jet was able to shoot both of the planes engines! They exploded and caught fire, and the plane started to fall toward the ground! The jet looped back, locked onto the plane, and started to target them.

"Hold it steady and I'll get him!" Larry yelled to Cliff.

Larry exited his body and started to fly toward the jet. The pilot was startled by the object, and knew it was a threat, so he quickly shot the missile at it! But Larry just flew right through it, into the jet, and quickly triggered the explosion. Then he turned around, and started flying at super high speeds. The missile was almost to the plane! He crawled inside quickly, and triggered the explosion, but he was to close to the plane, and took out the entire back end!

Larry flew into the plane and entered his body, and immediately started feeling the pull of the strong wind that tried to grip everything it could in the plane.

"We need to exit this thing!" yelled Cliff. "Shit I only have one parachute!"

"I can save everyone else!" yelled Rita. "You keep this thing going straight 'til we're out, then you leave with the parachute!"

"Ok, but hurry!"

"Everyone jump out after me!" instructed Rita. Then she ran and jumped out of the hole!

Steve got up and followed, as did Garfield and Larry. As the wind whistled around them, they watched Rita, and were amazed by what they saw. She started to grow! Her clothes on the outside stated to get tighter, until they ripped off, but underneath them, she had a suit! It had pant legs that stretched down to her knees, and it was black, except for a purple triangle on the front.

She grew and grew, until she was able to reach her hands up 15,000 feet into the air, and catch everyone else!

"Everyone alright?" she asked.

"Run to Cliff!" yelled Steve, and Rita started running toward where the plane was going to crash, hoping Cliff would be safely on the ground before they reached the plane.

That, sadly, wasn't how they'd find him.


	5. Chapter 5: Brain Surgery Successful

CHAPTER FIVE:

BRAIN SURGERY- SUCCESSFUL

"The jets took down the plane, sir," said Mallah.

"Good," said Brain. "Make sure the pilots are fairly rewarded for their work."

"That's the only problem. They got taken down in the fight too."

"Oh, my god!" yelled Rita.

Cliff had been ejected from the plane, but he was now covered head to toe in his own blood. He had large cuts on his head, arms, and one on his stomach, where he was holding with all his strength to keep his intestines from falling out.

"What do we do!" yelled Steve. "He's gonna bleed to death."

"Get…. Th-the…. Robot…" Cliff struggled to say.

Larry was already digging for it among the wreckage. "Got it," he said when he pulled it out. Steve ran to help, and they moved the robot over to where Cliff was sitting.

Rita crawled over to examine it. "Wow, it's like a human body, only without…the brain. Steve, see if your tools are still in the plane."

"What now?" asked Mallah.

"Go get the robot," said Brain. "Take a gun and eradicate any survivors."

After a few hours, Rita called everyone to where Cliff was sitting. The top of his head was cut off and his brain was missing, and there was a tube going from his heart to the robot.

"What'd you do?" asked Larry.

"Cliff, can you talk?" asked Rita.

The robot turned his head to face everyone, and the mouth slowly opened. "H-hell….h-hello, every-everyone," it said.

"Cliff?" said Steve stunned.

"Y…yeah."

"Rita, how'd you do that?" asked Larry.

"I helped build the robot. It was designed so a man could put a human brain inside it, and use it to replace his physical body."

"That's who attacked us," said Cliff.

"Do you know who ordered it?" asked Steve.

"They just gave me a code name: MM."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Garfield, right before a gunshot was fired, and a bullet ricocheted off Cliff's robot body.

A figure that looked like a large human was in the distance, cocking a shotgun. He fired another shot that hit the rock behind Rita's head.

"Everyone grab on!" said Rita.

Everyone grabbed her arms, and she started to grow. The person fired another shot that caught her shoulder, but had no affect due to her size. She grew over 200 feet tall, and started to run.

The man got close enough to her that Garfield saw who it was. "MM: Monsieur Mallah," he said.

"What?" asked Steve.

"It's the gorilla I fought at the lab when I was captured last year. His name was Monsieur Mallah."

"If that was the gorilla, then… Oh, shit."

"What?"

"The man that captured you must be the one that ordered the robot. He was caught in the explosion, so his body was most likely destroyed."

"That'd make more sense if I knew more about the brain system," said Garfield.

"Nervous system," Rita corrected him.

"Boss?"

"Yes, Mallah."

"The robot was either destroyed or taken."

Rita ran 'til they got to Interstate 15, then she shrunk down to her regular size, and they started walking along the noisy road. A while later, a Freightliner semi stopped and offered to give them a ride to Los Angeles.

The ride lasted a few hours, after which they left the truck and took a cab to the FBI plaza.

"I swear to God it's all the truth," said Steve to the FBI agent.

"I need proof," replied the agent.

"How the hell is this," Steve gestured toward Garfield and Cliff, "not enough proof?"

"We've sent out scouts who found the wreckage of all three planes, but we need proof of the gorilla and the doctor you supposedly think is alive."

"You guy's have a bathroom?" asked Garfield.

"Yeah, kid, down the hall to the left," said the agent.

While the adults were arguing with the agent, Garfield went to the bathroom while trying to think of a way to help. On the way down the hall, he was almost run over by an agent running down the hall yelling, "Chief, a citizen just spotted what he thinks is a gorilla behaving like a human walking into the old abandoned power plant!"

This gave Garfield an idea.

"We'll send an agent to investigate," said the chief. "If he finds the gorilla, we'll set up the operation to stop him."

"Great!" said Steve. "Garfield, did you… Garfield?"

He was gone.

Garfield stood behind an old generator for the power plant, watching Monsieur Mallah walk in. Mallah walked through a gate that had three large German shepherds inside, ready to eat whatever dared to pass through uninvited.

Garfield decided this was the perfect time to use his powers. He morphed into an eagle, used his feet to grab Steve's cell phone, and flew up to a vent. He used one foot to pull off the vent, and then he flew inside, landed, morphed back into a human, and noticed all his clothed fell off when he morphed into the eagle.

"Dammit," he said. Then he morphed into a cat. _At least as a cat no-one will notice I'm naked,_ he thought.

He carried the phone in his mouth and crawled through the vent 'til he heard Mallah talking to someone. "How the hell are we gonna move all this shit to the lair, Brain?" he said angrily.

"I don't care how you do it, just get it done," said a monotone robot voice.

Garfield needed a better look so he pushed the phone through the vent, morphed into a cricket, and crawled through the vent, then turned back into a cat, took the phone, and hid behind some crates.

"I'll rent a U-Haul I guess," said Mallah sarcastically.

"Don't be a dumb-, Mallah," said the robot. Garfield finally got a good look at it. It was the size and shape of a trash can, had a glass dome covering a brain on the top, and a skull engraved on the front. "Get the teams together so we can move all this stuff."

"Fine…" Mallah stopped his sentence and started sniffing.

"What is it, Mallah?" asked the robot.

"I smell something. It smells like a cat, but with the added stench of…"

Garfield knew he was noticed so he turned into a human, took a picture of Mallah and the Robot, then turned into a cat and ran away with the phone in his mouth.

"It's that stupid green kid!" yelled Mallah.

"Kill him," said the robot.

Mallah grabbed a pistol off the table and ran after Garfield, catching up to him just as he reached an open vent. Mallah shot three rounds from the pistol, missing each time, allowing Garfield to escape through the vent.

"Shit!" cursed Mallah.

Garfield ran through the vent but was stopped by a cover. He turned into a human, kicked open the cover, cutting his foot in the process, then turned back into a cat and kept running, dripping blood from his wound.

But he forgot about the three dogs, and the fact that cats are food for those dogs. They caught his scent and started chasing him. He ran as fast as he could, jumping over boxes an crates, but was stopped by the fence, which was ten feet tall with electric barbed wire at the top.

The dogs closed in on Garfield, trapping him between the corner of the fence and them. They started to slowly close in on him, teeth bared and growling deep.

_C'mon, think,_ Garfield told himself. _What can match these dogs?_

The dogs got closer and closer, but Garfield finally figured out what to do. He set the phone down, let out a hiss to distract the dogs, then leaped at them, turning into a German shepherd himself!

The dogs were surprised as Garfield gripped one by the throat and drug him to the ground. He flipped over the down dog as a second one jumped at him. Garfield knocked down the dog with his front paws, then turned and was caught at the neck by the third dog. He went to the ground, but the dog flipped over and lost his grip on Garfield's throat.

Garfield turned and batted away the first dog with his paw, then the second, and then hit the third one down with both paws before the first two jumped him. One dog grabbed his throat as it jumped on him, pulled him over, and then the third dog came to join the party.

Garfield wiggled and wiggled trying to free himself, but the three dogs had him pinned. He was able to push the middle dog off of him, then he turned and climbed onto the dog on his left pulling him to the ground. Then he put his legs on either side of the dog and threw him into the dog on his right, then scrambled up to jump onto the first dog.

He took the first dog to the ground and ran toward the phone, then another dog jumped in front of him. Garfield showed the dog his teeth and started to growl, then the other two dogs started growling behind them. Garfield ran toward the first dog, jumped over him, climbed a few feet of the fence, then jumped onto a crate, and jumped over the other two dogs.

"Time to finish this," said Garfield. He let out a loud growl, then jumped onto one of the dogs. He took the dog to the ground, jumped onto the other one, taking him down, then jumped onto the third dog, took him to the ground, then gripped his leg in his teeth and jerked, cutting his leg. The dog yelped and limped out of the way.

Garfield turned to the other dogs. One dog pulled his ears back, showed his teeth and growled at Garfield. The second dog slid back a few inches, intimidated by the injury the other dog received from Garfield. The dog ran at Garfield, grabbed his neck and pulled him to the ground. Garfield rolled all the way over, pushed the dog away with his paw, then bent over, grabbed the dog's leg and started running, making the dog flip over. Then Garfield dragged the dog, slicing some skin on his leg. The dog yelped, so Garfield let go and looked at the third dog, who turned and ran.

But another enemy showed up. Mallah ran around the corner of the building, carrying a machine gun, and started shooting at Garfield. Garfield hid behind a crate, then got an idea. He ran and picked the phone up in his mouth, then morphed into a cheetah, jumped onto the top of the crate and jumped over the fence, dodging bullets from Mallah's gun. He landed on the ground and ran back towards the FBI building.

"NO!" yelled Mallah. He radioed Brain. "Boss, we need to leave now."


	6. Chapter 6: Assault on Death Valley

CHAPTER SIX:

ASSAULT ON DEATH VALLEY

"Well I'll be damned," said the FBI chief while looking at Steve's phone.

"So what are we gonna do about it?" asked Steve

"I'm gonna call the National Guard. They'll get right on it."

"Ok, our work here is done. Let's go home."

"Wait, Steve," said Garfield. "I want to help them. Mallah's too powerful to be taken down my just men."

"Kid, he's a gorilla," said the chief. "Throw a net on him and he'll think he's trapped."

"No he won't," said Garfield. "His IQ was enhanced to 178 by the trash can."

"Huh?" said Rita.

"When the scientist was human he experimented on the gorilla and enhanced his IQ," explained Steve.

"What can you do to stop him?" asked the chief.

Garfield morphed into a gorilla the same size as Mallah. "This worked the first time," he said. He looked down to see that he'd accidentally ripped the clothes he'd put on an hour earlier. "Ah, crap."

"Holy shit," said the chief. "We've gotta show this off."

"Hell no we don't," said Steve. "We need to keep this quiet so my family doesn't get locked in a circus."

"Alright," said the chief. "But I am going to show you off to the sergeant of the National Guard."

"How do you waltz right in here and expect me to believe that story, and how do you tell it with a straight face?" asked the National Guard Sergeant, Ryan Carlson.

"You have to at least think it's possibly true," said the FBI chief. "C'mon their son is green, still morphed into a gorilla, and that guy's a freakin' robot."

"Plus the pictures on my phone," said Steve.

"I know, and I guess I have no choice then to believe you," said Sergeant Carlson.

"So what's the plan?" Steve asked.

"We'll fly in a regular commercial jet plane to confuse the enemy's radar," said Sergeant Carlson, "and we'll have emergency air force pilots on standby incase we are detected."

"Won't the standby pilots be detected?"

"They'll be close to a nearby Air Force base so it looks like a training exercise. But then after we get close, we'll all parachute down near the lair and close in on them."

"How do we stop them from escaping in the opposite direction?"

"We rigged an engine to break down at the push of a button. The pilot will trigger the break down to simulate an emergency turnaround, and he'll circle around the lair, letting off soldiers that'll encircle the building."

Steve was impressed at the strategy. "Simple, sounds foolproof, I like it."

The soldiers were being loaded onto the jet as Sergeant Carlson, Steve, and the others stood at the side. There was a total of 100 soldiers going on the mission. Steve and the family were loaded last. The soldiers and them were all sitting in first class seats so they could all enjoy themselves 'til they got to their destination.

As they flew, Sergeant Carlson went over the battle strategy, while Steve went over a strategy for him and his family. "Ok, there's five battalions getting off at five different places. Garfield can handle himself as well as the rest of us can, so we'll all be able to go with a battalion. I'll go first, Rita goes second, Larry third, Cliff fourth, and Garfield last."

"Why me last?" asked Garfield.

"I just picked a random order," said Steve.

"Let me go first so I can get Mallah out of the way. If he gets loose he'll take us out."

"That's… a good point."

"But you have to be careful," said Rita. "You scared the hell out of me when you went after them the first time, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt, I promise."

"Hey, everyone," said Sergeant Carlson. "We got something for you guys."

A soldier brought back an armored crate, set it down and opened it. Inside were folded black outfits. "These outfits are made to withstand your powers. It will protect others from the radiation Larry produces, and in Garfield's case, it'll shrink and grow as he morphs. And Steve's is made to fit like a police suit since his powers require nothing special."

Steve pulled out his outfit. It black with an upside-down, purple triangle on the front.

"Ha, ha, it looks like Rita's underwear," said Cliff.

"It's not underwear, Cliff," said Rita. "I had it made to hide under my clothes after a little mishap in central park three years ago."

"Mm, giggity," teased Larry.

Garfield already had his on. "These are cool," he said.

"Alright, everyone get ready," said Sergeant Carlson. "Thirty minutes 'til we deploy." The others, besides Cliff, went into the back bathrooms to change into their new outfits.

"The machine's started," said Mallah. "It needs to charge for 24 hours before it has enough energy to take out all the fault lines we've rigged it to."

"Good job, Mallah," said Brain. "Let's prepare the building for the quakes."

"Mr. Brain?" said a henchman sitting by a radar computer.

"Yes?"

"What's the blue jet dot supposed to mean?"

"Oh, shit, it's the guard squad," said Mallah.

"Shoot them down," ordered Brain. The henchman did as he was told by pushing a red button.

The jet was only 75 miles away from the lair. "Alright, we're almost to the destination," said Sergeant Carlson. "Order the Air Force jets to stay ready."

"Red One, keep your pilots ready," said one of the jet's pilots.

"Yes, sir," said the Air Force Pilot.

Sergeant Carlson went into the back. "Ready yourselves, we're nearing the lair."

Just then they heard a beeping coming from the cockpit. "Sergeant!" yelled one of the pilots. "We're being approached by enemy jets!"

"Call the Air Force pilots over here immediately," said Sergeant Carlson.

The pilot called the leader of the Air Force jets and said, "We're under attack. Get over here ASAP!"

"Yes, sir, we copy," said the Air Force leader.

Just as he hung up on the Air Force leader, the pilot looked up to see four enemy jets flying toward them. "We have enemy jets," he told everyone.

The enemy jets each released a missile. The pilot turned the jet to the right just in time to miss the first three missiles. But the fourth one hit their number two engine and exploded! The plane started to jiggle as the wing came loose and started to flap in the wind. The plane also started to turn over, making the people in the back start to fall around in the back.

"Everyone take a seat!" yelled Sergeant Carlson.

The enemy jets each released another missile! The Pilot had no control over the plane, so Larry ran to the edge of the plane and left his body as pure negative energy. He flew through three missiles, causing them to each explode, and then tried to find the fourth. But he was too late; the fourth missile hit the side of the front of the plane, killing the pilot and sucking Sergeant Carlson out of the plane. Larry tried to save him, but he ran out of energy and was forced to retreat to his body.

"DAMMIT!" he yelled when he had the energy.

Steve looked out the window and saw two more missiles headed toward them. "BRACE YOURSELVES!" he yelled. Then he used his telekinesis to push the missiles together, causing an explosion that took out the engines on the left side of the plane!

A soldier took everyone and led them to the back of the plane where they walked down some stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a room with parachutes and a large door. The door was open, and half of the parachutes were missing.

"Put on some chutes!" yelled the soldier over the wind coming from the open door.

"DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!" yelled Rita, "JUST JUMP AFTER I DO!"

Rita jumped out of the plane and grew into a giant as she started running after the plane to catch Steve and the soldier. Garfield jumped next and turned into a bird so he could just fly, and then Cliff jumped out and landed on the ground, thanks to his indestructible metal body. When they were all out, they looked up to see the plane explode into a large fireball by one last missile.


	7. Chapter 7: Across the Desert

CHAPTER SEVEN:

ACROSS THE DESERT

"Boss, the plane was destroyed, but a small group of soldiers survived," said Mallah.

"Take them out," said Brain. "Take a squad of our own soldiers and take out all of them, and don't return unless all of them are dead."

"Yes sir, boss," said Mallah.

Mallah and his soldiers went to the armory. There were shelves loaded with automatic weapons from pistols to AK-47s. Each soldier selected a pistol and an AK-47. Mallah got himself a large machine gun that was built to his size, and then he got inside a large tank. The tank had a large cannon on the front; a hole where a soldier could shoot a machine gun through on the side and on the back was a stand that held four large machine guns.

"Alright boys, we don't come back till they're all dead," said Mallah. Then he got inside the tank and the soldiers loaded on trucks and started their journey into the desert.

The group had started walking all the way into the next day across the desert. The soldiers that had survived the plane attack had caught up with them and were following as protection.

Garfield was walking with his arms folded and he was looking straight ahead with a stunned expression.

"Garfield, you okay?" asked Steve.

Garfield hesitated for a second. "They killed half of the soldiers in that attack."

"I know. That's why we have to stop that scientist. He'll kill more if we don't. But more of us might die, so if you don't think you can handle it, I'll have a soldier walk you to safety."

"No, no, I can take it. It's still just a little stunning."

"Okay, as long as you're sure."

BAM! A gunshot sounded in the distance and one of the soldiers at the front fell over with a bullet hole in his head. Then just after that, rapid machine gun fire started raining on the soldiers.

"EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" yelled one of the soldiers. Luckily there were two large rocks where the soldiers hid.

Mallah's soldiers stopped firing on the National Guard's soldiers when Mallah stood up out of the tank.

"Hang on boys, the big guns are coming in," said Mallah. He then sat back into the tank, took aim between the rocks the other soldiers were hiding behind, and fired.

All the soldiers set up their weapons and started to fire back at the enemy soldiers after the tank's cannon shot hit the ground.

Mallah's soldiers dodged the fire from the other soldier's machine guns without firing back.

"This isn't a goddamn colonial fight, fire back!" yelled Mallah.

The soldiers took fire again, but continued to fire at Mallah's soldiers.

"We can't hold them, there's too many!" yelled a soldier. "There's at least three times more than what we have!"

"Hang on, I can take some of them out!" yelled Cliff.

"Cliff, don't!" yelled Steve.

But Cliff ignored him and ran into the fire zone.

"Shoot him!" yelled Mallah.

Cliff started taking fire from Mallah's soldiers, but the bullets only ricocheted off his steel body. He made it half way across the battlefield without a scratch.

"I'll show him," said Mallah. He sat in the tank, took aim and fired!

Cliff heard the shot fired, and as the bullet got close, he jumped over it just as it exploded! He continued to run and another tank shot was fired. Cliff jumped to the right to avoid this one, and then another shot was fired. Cliff jumped to the left this time, and continued to run. He got to the tank just before the last shot was fired, and jumped at it, fist ready to punch out the cannon. But Mallah was quicker, and took a shot that resulted in a huge explosion!

"NO!" yelled Rita after she saw the explosion.

"RUN, RUN!" yelled a soldier. "You two, go with them!" Two soldiers followed Steve, Rita, Larry and Garfield. "And you two, get out the big one."

Two soldiers opened up a large crate they'd been carrying and took out a bazooka and five rockets. They aimed at the enemy soldiers and fired, and the rocket caused an explosion that took out ten of Mallah's soldiers. They repeated this process, taking out five enemies with the second shot, but before they could fire again, Mallah aimed the tank and fired.

The team looked back at where their fellow soldiers were taking on Mallah and saw a large explosion. They knew from the size of it that it took out the rest of the good soldiers.

"DAMMIT!" yelled Steve. He then turned and walked away from everyone before falling onto his knees in the desert sand.

Rita walked over to him and lifted his head up so their eyes would meet and she told him quietly so the others wouldn't hear, "You told Garfield not 30 minutes ago that he'd have to accept the reality that people would die on this mission, and that if we didn't accept it, millions more would die. You're the strongest man I know, so you have to be the leader and show them how to stare death in the face."

"Will this mission even succeed or is it just wasting our lives? We lost Cliff; do we have to lose more than that? All this patrol has seen is doom."

"If we die, we'll die trying. We made it this far, so we can make it the rest of the way."

Larry stepped in, "We may be a doomed patrol, but if we don't try, then we and millions will die in vain."

"I'll fight with the Doomed Patrol till the end," said Garfield.

"Garfield, we aren't the 'Doomed Patrol,'" said Steve.

"Then who are we?"

"We're…"

"We're the Doom Patrol," interrupted Rita, "sworn to enforce doom on the enemies of the world, with Steve Dayton as the leader."

Steve looked at Rita who winked at him. He knew what she was up to, so he played along. "Yes, Doom Patrol, move out!" He then sucked up all his emotions and hid them. He knew all this was an example to teach Garfield how to be brave and face the dangers he was going to face.

Mallah and his soldiers returned to the lab, still prepared for more battles.

"Have you eliminated the entire enemy?" asked Brain.

"Not yet, boss," said Mallah. "There are six more of them, but four of them have super powers."

"How do you know this?"

"Private James here got a photo of the six that fled and we ran a scan to find out who they were. It's Steve Dayton, the cop that destroyed our Madagascar lab, Rita Farr, who we discovered has the ability to grow to enormous sizes, Larry Trainor, a man that was the unfortunate victim of a radiation accident, and Garfield Dayton, the green kid we kidnapped over a year ago. He's now the cop's adopted son."

"Follow me, Mallah," said Brain. Mallah followed the brain into a chemical lab. "You know how to work the chemicals, so make up a tranquilizer for all of them. But make a large lethal dose for the woman incase she turns into a giant." After Brain left, Mallah went to work with the chemicals. He finished within a few hours with several tranquilizer darts and a large capsule filled with enough to knock out Rita should she turn into a giant.

When he finished, Mallah returned to the garage to reload the tank and prepare for his second departure. "Alright everyone we need to be ready this time. Four of the remaining six are super powered people, and we don't want them harmed. Master Brain wants them alive in order to use their powers for his bidding. Now we need to be prepared for the giant one. Take the trucks marked A776 as a backup incase my tranquilizer doesn't work."

Mallah again drove off in the tank and the soldiers followed in their trucks. Six more trucks followed: some Dodge diesel pickups with gooseneck trailers loaded with large steel boxes reading "A776; Warning: High Voltage, only operate with trained professionals."


	8. Chapter 8: Captured

CHAPTER EIGHT:

CAPTURED

"Are we there yet?" asked Garfield.

"For the 50th time, Garfield, you'll know we're there when we see the building," said Steve.

"Sorry, just bored."

"Well if the only action we'll see is what happened over the last eight hours I hope you stay bored," said Larry.

But just as he finished his sentence, a sniper was fired and a bullet went through one of the soldier's heads. The other soldier immediately aimed and fired in the direction the sniper came from. He stopped for a few seconds to see if he hit anything, but another sniper shot was fired into his head.

The rest of the team ran behind a rock to hide. They sat there for a few seconds before peeking around to see if anything was coming. Garfield was stunned at what he saw. He recognized Mallah walking toward them carrying a large sniper rifle.

"Oh no, it's the gorilla," he told everyone.

"Dayton, Farr and Trainor, I know you're hiding!" yelled Mallah.

"How does he know our names?" asked Rita.

"I don't know," said Steve.

"Hey, I know how to confuse him though," said Garfield.

Mallah got closer to the hiding spot as he loaded the cartridge with the tranquilizers in his sniper.

"Elasti-Girl, now!" yelled Steve. Rita stepped out and grew to Mallah's size before wrapping her arms around him and trying to hold him. "Negative Man!" yelled Steve. Larry removed himself from his body, flew through Mallah's arms and took the gun from him. "And Beast Boy!" Garfield then slithered out as a 40 foot-long python and wrapped himself around Mallah to restrain him.

Mallah struggled to break free, but Garfield was too strong as a snake. But then Garfield felt a sharp pain in his back and fell to the ground asleep. Steve went to see what it was and caught sight of a tranquilizer dart right before Mallah punched him and he flew into a rock. Rita ran up to Mallah and punched him a few times before Mallah nailed her in the stomach. Rita stumbled back a few steps and felt a dart hit her in the side.

She started to feel the effects of the tranquilizer, but she grew just in time that the tranquilizer started not to work. Mallah took out a canister bomb that had tranquilizer fluid in it, activated it and threw it upward at Rita, but a black object flew and pushed it out of the way before causing it to explode. It then flew down toward the ground, past Mallah and into a body lying on the ground; it was Larry.

Mallah called out to his men, "It's the negative-man! Use the radiation guns!

"Ha, you think that'll work," laughed Larry.

He ran toward Mallah's soldiers, separated from his body when he was half-way there, and several soldiers started shooting. The radiation guns were large shotguns with radioactive bullets. Eight soldiers had these guns and were shooting at Larry, and they were hitting dead-on. But the bullets didn't affect Larry. He flew past three of the soldiers and shot some of his energy into their guns, causing them to explode and kill the soldiers holding them. But he started to lose energy and flew back into his body.

The soldiers started to shoot at him with regular machine guns and Larry ran around to dodge the bullets. Mallah took note of this, and of how Larry flew back into his body when he appeared to lose energy. Larry dodged a few more shots before exiting his body again. The five soldiers with the radiation guns started shooting at Larry again, the bullets still doing no good. Larry flew past the guns, releasing energy into them, the guns exploded, but Larry again lost energy and flew back into his body. Mallah then got an idea.

The soldiers again started shooting at Larry, and again he dodged the shots. After dodging a bunch of shots, Larry turned around, flew out of his body and toward the soldiers again, this time taking out the regular machine guns along with the soldiers wielding them. And while he was separated, Mallah ran over, took Larry's body and started running. Larry destroyed a few more guns before he noticed that Mallah was running away with it and that he was losing energy. He chased Mallah as fast as he could, but as he got closer, he started to loose more and more energy until he couldn't move anymore and he sunk to the ground. At that time, Mallah threw the body back to Larry who entered it. And then Mallah took Larry and through him into a special cage that wouldn't let Larry out of his body.

Steve turned from fighting some soldiers and noticed Larry was in a cage. He then screamed "Larry!" and then ran to try and help his friend. Several soldiers stepped in the way, but Steve just used his telekinesis and pushed them out of the way. Mallah turned to face him, but Steve caught him in his telekinetic force. And while Steve was distracted, a soldier he'd pushed out of the way took out a dart gun with a tranquilizer dart in it, took aim at Steve and fired! The dart hit Steve in the neck, and as he stared to fall asleep, he let Mallah go. Mallah then took Steve and locked him in a cage, again one that was designed to subsidize his powers.

Rita saw Steve get put in his cage and ran to help him. Mallah saw her running as she started to grow, and he called out, "A776! A776!" At that calling, the pickups with trailers circled Rita. She knew they had something planned and tried to run, but the truck in front of her had its box opened, and a wire shot over her shoulder and connected to a wire shot from behind her. They then pulled down on Rita's shoulder and sent a charge of electricity that started to weaken her powers, causing her so shrink a little bit. Then two more wires were shot, connected and pulled down on her, then two more and two more. The wires all sent electricity through Rita's body, making it painful for her to stay as a giant, so she finally shrunk herself down. As she shrunk, the electricity weakened also until it was enough that it kept Rita at normal size, but also wouldn't allow her to grow.

Mallah went and stood in front of her curled on the ground. "Mission accomplished," he said. He then put Rita in a cage, and then he found Garfield asleep on the ground, still as a snake. He put him in a cage that was specially built to keep Garfield from turning into an animal that could escape. Or so they thought.

Garfield woke up a few hours later, still as a snake. By the sound of a diesel engine and the rough vibrations of the floor, he could feel that they were moving. He looked back and notices that he was wrapped around a steel cylinder in the center of his cage. He tried to transform into a rhino, thinking that it would be strong enough to break the cage, but he hurt himself because he was wrapped around the center of the cage.

"C'mon, think, think," he said to himself. He tried to think of an animal that he could use to break out of the cage. He looked outside as he thought and watches a bird flying across the desert. _Wonder what they eat out here_, he thought. _There're no worms in the desert. A WORM!_

He started to shrink himself from the back of his tail to his front, slowly transforming his body into a worm, careful about unraveling himself from the pole in the middle. When he got shrunk completely into a worm, he wiggled himself up and through the bars on the cage. Once outside, a bump on the path knocked him off the cage and onto the trailer bed. He wiggled to the back of the trailer, turned into a bird and flew off, flying up high so he could mark where the trucks were headed. He looked in the distance and saw they were headed to a building, but he could tell it was almost 30 miles away, and the trucks were doing at least 70 miles per hour.

He landed on the ground and tried to think of how he could get there. He went through a list of animals he'd learned about, trying to think of the fastest one. He went through deer, antelope, and gazelles knowing that they were all fast, but none fast enough to get him there very quickly. But then he thought of an animal that hunts those and can run at 60 miles per hour: a cheetah!

He then morphed into a cheetah and started to run and run until he was sure he was at the full speed he could make. "Don't worry everyone, I'm on the way!"


End file.
